A problem that is frequently encountered in engineering software is converting data from one unit system to another unit system. If users desire to perform computations on data that is stored in the US system and display the results in the metric system, then the stored data must be converted from the US system to the metric system. For example, a user may need to determine how many meters are in 100 feet.
One approach to this problem is to hard code conversions into the engineering software. For example, the engineering software would have hard coded conversions from the US system to the metric system. However, since the conversions are hard coded, the engineering software is only useful in the countries that use the metric system. Furthermore, the engineering software is only useful for the units that are hard coded in the engineering software. For example, if conversions for only the meter unit and the foot unit are hard coded, then the engineering system can only convert between meters and feet. Therefore, the engineering software must be modified and recompiled for any change that is needed. It would be desirable if the engineering software could be used without modification and/or recompilation.
Another approach to this problem is a proprietary file format, which defines measurements. For example, the American Petroleum Institute defines many measurements. However, existing proprietary file formats do not provide a standard method of defining measurements or of performing unit conversions.
Based on the foregoing, it is desirable to provide an improved mechanism for performing unit conversions.